


appropriate hobbies for a lady

by julamei



Series: the lucy chronicles [2]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 18:22:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8067919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julamei/pseuds/julamei
Summary: there are threads of lucy's old life that she's learning to weave into her new one as a mage of fairy tail.





	

Natsu had been excited about the request – a typical “find the dark mages and deal with them” mission that suited him, and his fierce, flaming fists, perfectly. But now, sitting around the fire and listening to the town as they grieved, he felt it had been anything but ordinary.

The dark mages, part of a growing guild in northeastern Fiore, had been using the orchestra to put the townspeople to sleep and steal from them. Even though the robberies didn’t occur during every performance, the people had begun to shun any and all events where the orchestra would be present, leaving the members frustrated and desperate.

Erza had accepted the request, and they’d been off – rolling around on a train and then a short carriage (okay, more like the back of a cart) ride brought them to Tulip, named for the many tulip trees within its borders, and in front of the conductor of the orchestra. The tall man implored them for help, and they decided to scope out the show the next night.

Natsu had been bored to tears after sniffing around the building before the performance and again once it had started. He hadn’t smelled any disparities, so he took up a position high in the rafters of the theater and enjoyed the sensation of his dangling limbs. The orchestra had begun playing only a bit ago, but the music was weird and uninteresting, nothing at all like the happy, easy tunes he grew up with around Fairy Tail. Happy stood next to him with his paws pressed to his mouth in an effort to contain his laughter at the conductor’s “silly” movements.

Natsu’s ears perked when he heard his partner sigh over the music. Lucy sat across from him, with her chin in her hand and her legs hanging from her wooden perch just like him, but the expression on her face couldn’t have been more dissimilar. Hers had been a wistful sigh, and the expression in her eyes was warm and affectionate. He didn’t know the word until Lucy desribed her emotion later as nostalgia. The smile hiding on her lips had him saying her name without thinking and when her eyes instinctively found his, the depth of them shocked him.

Before he could ask her what was wrong, her brows furrowed in a frown, catching something in the music just as his skin prickled with the awareness of magic. Down below, Gray and Erza stood in their seats near the orchestra pit. Natsu jumped from his post, Happy moved to fly Lucy down, Erza exquipped, and Gray settled into a fighting stance by the time the dark mages emerged from the shadows to square off in battle.

A half-burned theater, four rounded and tied up dark mages, and two casualties later saw Fairy Tail’s strongest team sitting around the town square amongst the locals, watching a fire blaze in place of the fountain in a kind of memorial and still reeling from the shock of the deaths.

The sombre atmosphere around the plaza pressed upon the inhabitants of the town, nearly all of which had turned up for the event. The people of Tulip had the custom of paying tribute to those who passed by honoring souvenirs of theirs, but no one found the courage or heart to cut through the solemn silence this evening. The piano from the performance, with a new leg, and the violin from the first seat stood dark and intimidating at the center of the plaza in front of the bonfire, like black holes sucking the life from their surroundings.

Property damage was always expected when it came to Fairy Tail, and especially Team Natsu, but the deaths of civilians… this was something they dealt little with. Although they were successful in completing the mission, none of the team acknowledged it. When the mayor had presented the reward, guilt and anguish racked each of them in their own way, until a tearful Lucy declined it.

Now, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with his blonde-haired partner, Natsu stared into the fire and recalled the events of the fight.

The dark mage that had been putting the locals to sleep also had the ability to control a single emotion in non-magical people. Using this forbidden magic, she had pitted the orchestra members against each other, amping up their anger into violent rage. Choas followed as the musicians struggled to injure and main each other, and the civilians screamed and panicked. Team Natsu had taken out the puppet-master mage as quickly as possible, but not before two fatalities – the piano player and a violinist.

Rage, helplessness, regret, and sorrow mingled in an unpleasant concoction of self-loathing. He was the Salamander, for Mavis’ sake! He’d never had to deal with someone dying on a mission before – he was better than that! He’d let down his team and this town. _Maybe I’m not as good as I think_. _Maybe I am too weak for Igneel to come back…_ Natsu felt his eyes burn at the thought of his father and his abandonment.

Next to him, he felt Lucy’s body shake with tears. The evidence of her pain cut him almost as much as his thoughts.

Movement from the corner of his eye had Natsu turning his head to watch Erza make her way to the center of the plaza. With the glow of the fire outlining her figure, she picked up the violin and stood with impeccable posture and paused for a moment. Without speaking, she instead dragged the bow across the strings of the instrument, and delicate, haunting notes pierced the desolate stillness. Erza played a long, slow tune, strung together only loosely in the semblance of a song.

Lucy took a deep, shaking breath before burying her face into Natsu’s shoulder. She hiccuped a large sob against his skin, and he brought his hand to the back of her head. 

“Luce?” He called quietly. She looked up at him, her eyes shining and the brown of them a hazy intensity of indiscriminate pain. He choked at the sight of it and his fingers tightened into her hair, but she shook off his grip and stood. His hand and side felt empty and cool in her absence.

She wiped her face with her fingers and forearms, striding unsteadily in front of those gathered toward her friend playing in front of the fire. Lucy touched Erza’s shoulder as she passed, and the girls exchanged a glance before Lucy sat down before the forsaken piano. Inhaling once more, she brought her fingers up to the carress the keys before pressing down on them lightly.

Natsu had watched her movements closely as wonder filled him. Would she ever stop surprising him? The song she played – for indeed this was a true piece of music whereas Erza’s notes had been simple, yet elegant, sounds – was sad and a bit forceful, the music itself attempting to come to terms with the tragedy and discover something positive. It was a beautiful song that any musician would’ve been proud to hear, let alone have offered as homage. Her nimble fingers gracefully scaled the keys and paused during the poignant moments, the music filling the air and the hearts of the people gathered. Natsu felt it build within him, and while the orchestra’s music had done little for him, he felt his emotions swaying with the sounds Lucy drew out and arranged.

Erza had let the bow of the violin hang relaxed at her side while Lucy played, and when the song finished, she put down the instrument. Walking to the piano, she layed a hand against the hood of the piano and gave Lucy a small nod when the girl took a rest after the first song.

At her friend’s nod, Lucy’s eyes filled with tears. They spilled forth down her cheeks silently as she brought her hands back up to the keys. The notes of a new, more powerful and optimistic song permeated through the plaza. All in attendance felt a hopefulness and courage fill their souls, and before the last notes of this song finished echoing throughout their hearts, Lucy began yet another song, even faster and more cheerful. Where before they had been mournful, the people felt hope collect inside of them.

As the last sounds of the final song hung in the air, Lucy’s fingers slithered slowly into her lap. Her bowed head hid from the crowd the tears Natsu could smell, and instead of joining in the thin applause, he stood and made his way over to her. Straddling the piano bench, he gathered Lucy’s sobbing form to him a bear-hug of an embrace.

“That was incredible, Luce,” he murmured against her hair. He felt the muscles of her face move against the fabric of his vest in what he hoped was a smile.

“They were my mother’s favorite songs,” she told him in a trembling voice. And with those simple words, Natsu felt his understanding, and his love, of his partner grow just a little bit deeper.

* * *

“How’d you learn to play like that, Lucy? And how come you never play at the guild?” Gray asked the questions on the rest of the team’s minds as they made their way from the train station at Magnolia to the guild. The conversation on the journey back had been sparse and infrequent. The others had been curious about Lucy’s hidden talent, but had been too remorseful and fixated about the deaths to inquire. But now, at the end of their excursion, they had been loath to leave without any closure. 

Lucy blushed at the scrutiny. “Well, there weren’t many hobbies that my father approved of, and he supported the piano. It’s the reason I first started reading, too, and…” she paused and cleared her throat. “My mom was a really good painist. It was one of the things she could still do after she got sick. I used to love listening to her play, and she taught me to enjoy music.”

Natsu listened intently to her words and imagined a tiny Lucy sitting at her mother’s feet while she played beautiful music from the large instrument. The image made him smile but also made him pause – he talked about Igneel all the time, but he almost never heard Lucy talk about her mom unless it had to do with magic, and even then, only seldom. It made him sad that he knew so little about her past, and what he did know was so radically different than his, Erza’s, and Gray’s upbringing in Fairy Tail. He resolved to learn more about it.

“There’s a piano in the room next to the Master’s office, Lucy.” Erza enticed. Lucy turned wary eyes to her friend. “I’d like it if you taught me a little." 

Lucy shook her head. “I couldn’t,” she answered. “I’m really not that good and I doubt I’d be a good teacher…”

Erza strode over and took her hands. “Please,” she intoned simply. “And I’d love to hear more about your mother.”

Lucy sniffed and smiled at the girl. “I’d really like that, Erza.” She replied after a moment’s consideration. “And I’ll just teach you a couple songs, my favorites.”

Erza nodded and Natsu smiled at the interaction, quickly deciding he’d be sure to be there for those lessons and stories. Before reaching the guildhall doors, Erza stopped and addressed the group. “I know we’re all still upset about how the mission turned out,” she said, and indeed they all still felt their shame like a cloak wrapped around them. “So if you all would like to go home, I will tell the Master what happened on my own.”

“No way,” Gray immediately answered at the same time Natsu growled “hell no.”

“We’re a team,” Lucy said. “We were all involved and we’ll all take responsibility.”

After walking into the guild, ignoring all of the greetings, and confessing to Master Makarov what had happened on the mission, the team found themselves sitting around a table off to a corner with their variation of comfort food. Natsu slowly sucked on the bones of his fire wings, a heaping mountain of fish carcasses sat (and smelled) beside Happy, Gray sipped at a gin and a tonic, Erza thoughtfully forked strawberry cheesecake into her mouth, and Lucy slurped quietly on a strawberry-mango milkshake.

“Lucy,” Gray said after a long sip of his cool drink. “I don’t mean to pry, but those songs you played were really beautiful – how’d you pick them?”

Lucy looked to the side for a minute before tightly shutting her eyes closed. Tears leaked through her clenched lids and Natsu punched Gray from next to him. 

“You heartless bastard!” He yelled, his voice drawing eyes and eye rolls from the other guild members. “Leave her alone about it!” The ever-empthatic Happy bawled loudly on the table, snot dripping from nose and onto the fish in his paws.

Lucy shorted through her tears. “It’s okay, Natsu,” she said. “Really.” Toying with the straw of her drink, Lucy looked down and the muscles in her face scrunched with more tears.

“I played them,” she said before drawing a breath and regaining control of her voice. “I played them at my mom’s funeral.”

All of them had pasts that they found difficult to talk about, but listening to Lucy open up about hers made them feel better about their pain, even if they kept it steadfastly guarded.

Natsu felt his heart wrench at her words as again, she revealed evidence of her glaringly different past. He watched Erza put her arm around the other girl. “I bet she loved them, Lucy.” The normally stoic girl comforted. Lucy leaned into Erza’s hug and gave a small smile. “Thank you,” she whispered slowly, looking over at Gray, Natsu, and Happy as well.

Natsu answered her with a grin, and although the dynamic would change over the years, he would always cherish this event as a tribute to the strength, and significance, of the friendship he shared with his teammates.

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine the first song Lucy plays as “Canon in D Major,” by Johann Pachelbel because the slow versions of it are a bit sad and melancholy but not depressing. The next ones she plays are “Claire de Lune” by Debussy and a song I’m obsessed with on Spotify called “Hope” by Classical Study Music. "Clair de Lune" is, obviously a classic, but "Hope" is really pretty great (check it if you're into piano music!).
> 
> If you know more about this stuff and imagine her playing something different, it's just a headcannon for me--feel free to make it yours : )


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